Choose how much the agent decides
Pick the permission mode a session runs in and whether the agent waits for you, so you stay as involved as the task needs.
Autonomy is how much of the session the agent decides by itself. You answer two questions when you start a session: which permission mode it starts in, and what happens when the agent needs an answer.
Permission modes
The permission mode says what the agent may do before it asks you. Every list shows the modes in this order.
| Mode | What the agent does | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | Asks before every edit and command. | You want to approve each step yourself. It keeps you closest to the work and is the slowest. |
| Accept edits | Edits files without asking. Commands ask first. | You trust the edits but want to see each command before it runs. |
| Plan | Reads and plans, changes nothing, then presents a plan for you to approve. | The task is new to you, touches code you care about, or you want a say before work starts. |
| Auto | Runs on its own while a classifier checks each action. | The task is clear and you’d rather review the pull request than each step. New sessions start here. |
| Bypass | Runs without any checks. | The task is routine and you’re comfortable with the agent running anything in its workspace. |
A plan’s approve button names the mode the agent carries on in, such as Approve and continue in Auto. That’s usually the mode your sessions start in, or Auto if that’s Plan. The arrow beside the button has Approve in another mode to pick a different one. Answer plans and asks covers the plan card.
When it needs an answer
The second question says what happens when the agent asks you something.
- Waits for you. The agent pauses for your answer when it asks a question, proposes a repository, or needs your permission.
- Carries on without you. The agent picks the recommended answer, allows its own requests, and approves its plans as written, so the run doesn’t pause. In Plan, it reads and plans, then approves its own plan.
Some asks still wait for a person whatever you choose. In Manual and Accept edits, a permission request always waits for you, since asking is what those modes are for. A card offering a session to fix something outside the pull request also waits for a person.
Warning
Carries on without you means nobody reads the plan or the agent’s requests before they go ahead. Pair it with a merge setting that keeps you in the loop, such as Ask before merging, so a person still decides what gets merged. Pull requests covers those settings.
Where you set it
- For one session. Under More › How it runs in the start box, pick a mode from the mode chip and answer When it needs an answer (Waits for you or Carries on without you). On a phone, the mode chip sits in the box itself. Start a session shows where.
- For your own sessions. In Settings › Defaults, the Sessions group has Permission mode and When it needs an answer (Wait for me or Carry on without me). Turn on Remember my last mode to start new sessions in the mode you last switched to. Plan is never carried over.
- For a project. Open the project, go to its Setup tab, and find Permission mode under New sessions. Leave it on Use each person’s default, or pick a mode and then answer When it needs an answer (Waits for the person or Carries on without them). The project’s owner, its collaborators, and an admin can change it. A session started in the project uses it unless you choose otherwise.
A new session starts on the project’s mode, then your last pick if you turned on Remember my last mode, then your own default, and otherwise on Auto and Waits for you.
Modes your organization turned off
An Owner or Admin can turn Auto or Bypass off for the whole workspace, under Workspace settings › General › Session modes with Allow Auto and Allow Bypass. A mode that is off still shows in every list, but you can’t pick it, and it says who turned it off: “Your organization’s admins turned Auto off.” A session whose default is a mode that is off starts in Manual instead. A session already running in that mode keeps it until someone switches.
Change your mind mid-session
The mode chip in the session’s message box shows the mode the session runs in. Choose it to switch, or press Shift+Tab in the message box. The new mode applies from the agent’s next tool call. Collaborators on the session can switch it. In the terminal, Shift+Tab cycles the mode the same way.
Switching to Plan has the agent plan again and bring you a plan card. A session that is still planning can also go Straight to work: open the Details tab in the session’s sidebar and choose the setting beside How it runs. The agent starts editing on its next turn and approves any plan it presents as written. Switching the mode back to Plan brings planning back.
The answer to When it needs an answer stays as it was when you switch modes.
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